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Strategy to Make Samsung Profitable

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The appointment of Yun Jong Yong as president and CEO of Samsung in 1996 was symbolic to the beginning of the organizations transition from its previous business level strategy of cost-leadership to its now successful implementation of differentiation. Before refocusing the direction of Samsung’s strategy it was originally making most of it’s profits producing lower-priced appliances that cost-conscious consumers were more likely to pick up if they couldn’t afford a higher priced brand (i.e. Sony or Mitsubishi). Also during that time Samsung has established itself as a low-cost supplier of various components to larger and better-known manufactures around the world. Although the organization was profitable at the time the over-all cost leadership strategy implemented by Samsung was positioned to be vulnerable to future external threats that could send the company belly-up.
In order for the overall-cost leadership strategy to make Samsung profitable it relied on various components in order to produce technologies that have been developed by other firms and charged at a lower cost. The main factor includes Samsung’s ability to scout for locations that would allow to keep manufacturing costs to a minimum, while maintaining a high-volume production due to lower profit margins. The reliance of pushing for high-volume production proved to be vulnerable to the external threat of economic turmoil (Asia, 1997) that led to high inventory costs that came to the point that Samsung was

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